Moving, and moving to Blogger

Well, a lot has happened for our family since the last post here.  It's been a bit over three years, and in that time we have made the move back to Portal.  I have taken a night job as the night auditor at the Holiday Inn in Statesboro.  And the biggest news of all:

We had our third child!

Allen James Saunders (A.J.) was born on September 21, 2011.  He has been a great blessing to Leila and I as well as the girls.  He's such an easy-going baby, and so happy.  I love to hear him laugh, and he loves his daddy so much!

I also moved our site to Blogger. When I was beginning with trying to keep an online journal of our family's adventures, if you wanted a decent web presence you had to have your own server and use custom code to achieve a good look.  That's all changed now.  Blogger, Wordpress, and Squarespace have all made blogging so much easier, and the sites that these tools generate tend to look very good as well.  The sites are also much easier to maintain and post to, which hopefully will encourage both Leila and I to post more often.

So here's to new horizons!

Camille's Birthday Trip to Disney

Camille turned four years old on June 5th. Earlier in the year, Leila found out about a promotion that Disney was running that gave you free admission to one of their theme parks on your birthday. Since Leila and I have the same birthday, it was almost a no-brainer to take Camille to Disney for the first time.

We spent the week with Leila's parents in Fernandina. Camille really enjoyed going to the pool and the beach. Unfortunately, Daddy forgot to reapply the sunscreen and she got lightly toasted.

Camille jumping into the pool. Pappy's playing catcher.

Camille loves the beach!

On Monday night, everyone went to the Redneck Yacht Club for a cookout and dance. Camille loves to dance.

Camille dancing with Cousin Casey's girlfriend Amy.

We woke up way too early Wednesday morning and made the three hour drive to Orlando. We arrived at the Disney entrance just after 9:00. I couldn't believe that they charge almost 80 bucks for an adult and 65 bucks for a child, and they still charge you twelve dollars to park! Greedy mouse, no cheese for you!

Disney Entrance

Once we got our free tickets and bought a ticket for Camille, we took the ferry boat to the Magic Kingdom. Once inside, the first character we saw was Pluto. Camille wanted to meet him, so we stood in line for about a half hour. She got to meet him, though.

Camille meets Pluto!

We headed down Main Street USA and got one of the photographers to take a family picture for us.

Mommy, Daddy and the girls in front of Cinderella's Castle.

I got quite a workout carrying my girls around Disney.

Daddy and his girls at Disney.

The first ride we went on was the "It's a Small World" ride. I survived. Then Mommy and Camille rode the Dumbo ride. Camille kept wanting to go higher! Camille was on the inside of the ride, so I couldn't get a good shot of her on the actual ride, but they had a static Dumbo for pictures.

Camille loved the Dumbo ride.

We then hid from an hour-long rainstorm in the Winnie the Pooh ride and then did the Peter the Pan ride. Then I took Camille to drive the racecars. She was very excited to get to drive a "real" racecar! Of course, Daddy had to work the gas pedal.

Camille drives a racecar!

After the racecars, I fed Amelia while Leila and Camille rode the teacups.

Camille and Mommy in a teacup.

After they rode the teacups, we wanted to take Camille back to meet Pooh and Tigger. It wasn't quite time for the appearance, so I took Camille to play in Pooh's house. I showed her the tree and asked her, "Whose house is that?" She got wide-eyed and whispered, "Pooh's house!". She loved playing at Pooh's house.

Camille visiting Pooh's house.

Then Camille got to meet two of her favorite characters -- Tigger and Pooh! She was star-struck.

Camille meets Tigger and Pooh!

After meeting Tigger and Pooh, we went to watch the Country Bear Jamboree. Then I wanted to take her on the Amazon boat ride. The sign said the wait was 30 minutes. An hour later, we're still 15 minutes from getting on the boat, and Camille is on my shoulders asleep. She slept through the whole ride!

After that, we decided to head on back to the car. Camille was wiped out, and so was I! We made it back to Fernandina at about midnight.

The next day while I was working, Leila and Camille went with Memom, Pappy and Uncle Bruce to try their hand at crab fishing. I think they caught one hermit crab.

Camille getting ready for her spot on "Deadliest Catch".

That night, we celebrated Camille's birthday with Memom and Pappy.

Camille's birthday cake at Memom and Pappy's.

We left Fernandina Saturday morning and headed to Portal to celebrate all the birthdays with Nana and Poppa. That afternoon, we went swimming. Amelia wasn't really a fan of the water.

A very soggy family photo.

That night, we celebrated all the birthdays, and Camille got to blow out the candles again.

Camille blowing out her candles at Nana and Poppa's house.

We came home on Sunday. It was a great trip, and Camille had a blast. I really enjoyed getting to spend time with the family doing something special. It will probably be a long time until we go back to Disney, but I was happy to see that Camille had a really good time.

Camille Sings - Again!

I love how good a big sister Camille is to Amelia.

 The other evening, Leila was making Amelia's food. Apparently, Amelia wasn't happy about having to wait. To calm her down, Camille started singing "You Are So Beautiful" to her, and it worked. Amelia became happy almost immediately. I managed to get a recording of her singing. My phone didn't pick up the "-ful" part of "beautiful", but it's still very cute. It brings a smile to my face every time I hear it.

 

Camille Singing to Amelia

Camille has always enjoyed singing to her baby sister. Even before Amelia was born, she would sing to her Mommy's tummy. Leila brought Camille and Amelia to our offices for the office Thanksgiving meal the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. While Leila was changing Amelia's diaper, Amelia was crying, and Camille decided to try singing to her. I started up the recorder and held the microphone in Camille's direction and was able to capture the following audio of her singing "Jesus Loves Me" to her baby sister.

Click the Play button to listen.


Camille is such a wonderful big sister!

Meeting the Great Grandparents Davis

Amelia is almost a month old. So, we wanted to take the time for her to meet her great grandparents that are Pappy's mom and dad. They were really happy to see us and seemed to be doing well. We didn't go sooner because Mommy was sick and didn't want to get anyone sick. We had hoped the weather would have been better, but it was drizzling all day and foggy. Camille enjoyed seeing them and the Christmas decorations they had just put up. Camille wanted to be in the pictures, too. Hope you enjoy them.

Great Grandmother, Camille and Amelia

Great Granddaddy, Camille and Amelia

So Much to be Thankful For!

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. It is a time to be with your family, eat some delicious food and remember all your many blessings. This year, Amelia is the new blessing to be thankful for. We are thankful for our little family of four. We hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful. Please enjoy these pictures from our Thanksgiving memories.

This is my 1st Thanksgiving

Our 1st Thanksgiving as a family of four

Camille and Amelia's girl cousins on my mom's side

Things Camille is thankful for

Our family turkey

Our family turkey was done using Jamey's foot, Amelia's feet, my hands and Camille's hands.

Amelia at Home

The day that Amelia was born, Jamey was feeling sick. He stayed the night with us, but went home when Camille came to the hospital. He slept the day hoping to feel better. My mom stayed the night with me to help with Amelia.

When Amelia came home from the hospital, I asked that Jamey wear a mask to prevent Amelia from getting sick. A few days later, I started feeling sick so I wore one. When Camille saw me, she asked me if I was a pig. I tried to explain to her that I was sick and didn't want to get Amelia sick. But, she didn't understand. She just knew she wanted to be a pig, too.

Here are some pictures of us in our masks:

Camille, Amelia and Jamey (in his mask as a "pig") reading a book

Camille and I (as pigs) and Amelia

Camille loves holding Amelia and giving her kisses and snuggles. She hasn't quite learned that she needs to be gentle with her baby sister. She is learning though. She asks to hold her, but if Amelia starts crying she asks me to hold the baby. Camille loves being a big sister. She won't let you change Amelia's diaper without letting her help. It is so cute that she wants to help out.

Camille giving Amelia kisses

Welcome to the world, Amelia Faith Saunders!

Amelia Faith Saunders was born on November 6, 2008 at 12:48 p.m. She was 8 lbs. 11 oz. measuring 20 inches long.


She was determined to be born on this date. My contractions started at 12:30 a.m. and continued throughout the night. Needless to say, I didn't get any sleep. There was no rhythm to them until 7:30 a.m. which were 8 to 10 minutes apart. When I called the doctor, she recommended me to go to the doctor when they opened at 8:30 to make sure I was in labor. Jamey was just waking up to go to work and I told him that we needed to go to the doctor. Luckily, Bryant was home and he stayed with Camille while she slept. Jamey called work and I tried calling my parents to let them know what was going on. We were just about to get to the doctor's office when my contractions became 5 minutes apart. I made the decision to go ahead to the hospital since it was 30 minutes away on a good day and knew that we'd be in Thursday a.m. traffic. When I couldn't get any answer on either of my parents' phones, I called my uncle to see if he could get in touch with them. Thank God he was and I informed my parents. Jamey also called his. Because the traffic was so bad, we didn't get to the hospital until just before 10 a.m. The doctor said I was dilated 4 cm. She said that if I stayed on course, that I would deliver in 6 hours or around 4 p.m. So, Jamey felt comfortable leaving me and going home to bring Camille back. Not realizing that Bryant had fallen back asleep and not done the things he requested, Jamey had to do them and go to the bank to pay for parking at the hospital. I had the epidural at 11 a.m. and my water also broke then. At 12:22, they said I was fully dilated and to call my husband to see where he was. I asked Amelia to wait until her daddy could get there to be born. Luckily, he had just got off the exit for the hospital. The nurse told me not to push until my husband got there. As soon as he came in the room, she said I could push. Amelia was born shortly after that.

Because of the events of the morning, I had forgotten to put the camera card back into the camera. I had taken it out to download the pictures from Halloween. Luckily, we did pack the video camera and Jamey videoed Amelia after the birth. Thank God for cell phone cameras. Because, my parents had forgotten their camera and Jamey's parents' camera wasn't working.

I did find another camera card in my luggage the next day.


Amelia had many visitors:

Camille and Amelia

Memom, Pappy, Camille and Amelia

Bryant, Amelia and her new bear

Poppa, Nana and Amelia

Aunt Elisabeth, Camille and Amelia

While she was in the hospital, Amelia got her 1st phone call.....

...from her Pappy.

After dealing with low blood sugar, high jaundice levels and blood culture levels from group B strep, Amelia was finally released on Saturday afternoon to come home during the Georgia vs. Kentucky football game. We are happy to be a new family of four!

The Saunders family....Jamey, Leila, Camille (with her baby) and Amelia going home!

Happy Halloween

Blue Pumpkin

Since we have been on baby watch, Camille did not know that today was Halloween. We have been decorating for Halloween all week though. So, it was a total surprise when we went to dress her up in her costume. She knew that we had a surprise for her, but she had to eat supper first. Jamey carved the Blue into the pumpkin. He is so talented and patient.

Blue, Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper

For those of you who don't know, I am Mrs. Pepper, the baby is "Cinnamon", Camille is Blue and Jamey is Mr. Salt. It is from a Nickelodeon show called "Blue's Clues" and Camille absolutely loves this show. Her birthday party was "Blue's Clues". We really love this show because it reinforces a lot of things I teach her at home. (i.e. alphabet, numbers, seasons, etc.) We had told Camille who Jamey and I were going to dress up as. Camille had said she wanted to be their daughter, Paprika. I knew as soon as she saw her costume, she would want to be Blue. She never mentioned wanting to be Paprika once she had her costume on. Later, in the episodes Mrs. Pepper has another baby, Cinnamon. Jamey kept patting my belly and saying "Cinnamon bun". Camille and I are holding pumpkins in the picture. Camille is holding hers and I am hold her baby sister's pumpkin.

Camille and the Pumpkins

This is a cute picture before trick or treating of Camille with all the pumpkins.

Camille and Daddy Trick-or-Treating

Jamey and Camille trick or treating. She really seemed to understand what it was all about this year.

Camille wagging her tail

When we got back home, I knew Camille had a package from Memom and Pappy. Here she is checking the mail.

There is a song from Blue's Clues that we sing every time she has mail.

Here's the mail
It never fails
It makes me wanna wag my tail
When it comes I wanna wail...
MAIL!!!

Since she had on her Blue costume, she could really wag her tail and you can see on the picture she is grabbing her tail. She is so cute!

Our Ghost Family

This is a craft project that we did as a family. Camille really liked the ghosts that we saw in the neighborhood and so we did a project with ghosts. We hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!

Update on "Miracle"

Today, we went to the "baby doctor". At least that is what Camille calls it. My blood pressure and my weight gain is all where it should be. I am measuring right at 38 weeks and have not started dilating yet. I never did with Camille. My water broke on the day she was due and like 5% of babies she was born on her due date. The doctors are saying my due date is November 12 which is 40 weeks and they will induce me if I have not delivered by 41 weeks. Some people say second babies come sooner, while others say their second one have come late. My doctor says they usually come around the same time the first one did. So, right now we are on baby watch. Only God and this baby know when the time is.

Camille is very excited about being a big sister. Every night at bedtime, she kisses and snuggles my belly constantly. She has also started singing to her "The ABC song" and "Jesus Love Me", both verses. She is very proud of herself when she does. "Miracle" really responds to Camille's voice and really seems to like it. She especially loves it when Camille laughs. Sometimes I think they have what they say about a twin connection. Because, Camille always seems to know where in my tummy that "miracle" is and "miracle" seems to really respond and move a lot when Camille is playing near my tummy.

I can't wait to meet our little "miracle" and be a family of four. But, I am most looking forward to Camille's reaction the first time she meets her sister. Definitely going to be a Kodak moment.

Our Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend, we went to the Kinsey Family Farm in Gainesville, Georgia. This is our first visit to a pumpkin patch. We usually buy our pumpkins at the local church. This year, we decided that Camille would enjoy having her 1st hayride.

When we first got there, they had an apple cannon. It was like an air cannon that they would load apples into and you'd shoot them at a target. Daddy actually hit a target. Camille was "helping" Mommy so it was hard to aim. But, we did hit the fence and our apple broke into 3 pieces. The cows were happy to be fed. To feed the cows was Camille's favorite part.

Off to the left you can see the target.

Camille really liked riding on the hayride. It went around their Christmas tree farm and halfway through it stopped at deck. You could feed the fish. Off on the other side of the pond, they had decorated it with ghosts that we holding hands. Camille saw them and thought they were a dinosaur. She said, "Look Daddy. I see a dinosaur. Dinosaur says "ROAR"!" She is saying that in the next picture. She says the cutest things sometimes.

"Dinosaur says 'Roar!!!'"

After the hayride was over, it was time to pick out a pumpkin. Camille really liked riding in the wagon while trying to find a pumpkin. We found a big family pumpkin. Then, she wanted a pumpkin for her and her baby sister.

We had a great time at the pumpkin patch. We can't wait to do it with our new family next year! 

My 1st Blog

Many of my friends have started blogging and I really enjoy reading them. It is a great way to keep in touch with your friends and family. Our website has place to blog. I thought while I have a little time before the baby gets here; I would share information and pictures of things we have been doing lately. My plan is to add something each week but with a new baby things might change. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I do posting our newest news.

Welcome to our Homepage!

Welcome to the Saunders Family Homepage!

We hope that you enjoy your time here. To the family that we don't see very often, rest assured that we miss you and love you. Here's a picture of Camille with Santa to help you celebrate Christmas.